In Which I Become a Republican

At least for purposes of admiring the panache and "a dish best served cold" gleeful nastiness of today's proclamation by Gov. John Kasich, Republican of Ohio, that the Dallas Mavericks and their friends, family, and fans are all Honorary Ohioans.

The second and third Whereas clauses are where the knife is twisted, with joy. I thought this was a hoax when I first heard about it (via Politico's James Hohmann), but it's right there, on the splash page of Kasich's official site. PDF of the proclamation, suitable for printing at home, is here. It's nice to see a whole state that can bear a grudge. Maybe next year's license plates can say, "Ohio: The Buckeye Schadenfreude State."

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James Fallows is a staff writer for The Atlantic and has written for the magazine since the late 1970s. He has reported extensively from outside the United States and once worked as President Carter's chief speechwriter. He and his wife, Deborah Fallows, are the authors of the new book Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey Into the Heart of America, which has been a New York Times best seller and is the basis of a forthcoming HBO documentary.